U.S. musician and songwriter Jimi Hendrix’s London home is to open as a permanent museum for the public to visit Feb. 10, 2016.

    The flat at 23 Brook Street, Mayfair has undergone a restoration that cost 2.4 million British pounds (US$3.67 million), with the help of money from the Heritage Lottery Fund and private donors.

    Hendrix bought the third-floor flat in 1968 at a time when he was considering the next phase of his career and that summer he released his “Electric Ladyland” LP.

    The flat is in the same row as the home of the German-born composer George Frideric Handel, who lived at number 25 Brook Street for 26 years and wrote many of his greatest works, including “Messiah.”

    Both homes are owned by the Handel House Trust, who have been using the Hendrix flat as an office, only opening it occasionally to the public.

    Chairman of the trust, Alistair Stranack said that through painstaking research into the building and Hendrix’s circle of friends and acquaintances, the trust had managed to present an image of what life was like in his time at Brook Street.

    At the heart of the Hendrix flat will be the main living room, restored to how it would have been when Hendrix was in residence.

    Among the exhibits are previously unseen or rarely seen images of Hendrix taken at the flat and in the local area.

    The museum will also include a new state-of-the-art studio to be used for teaching and as a concert venue.

    Living at 23 Brook Street fueled Hendrix’s creativity and led to many hours of writing and visits from fellow musicians led to countless jam sessions.

    He became fascinated by the fact that Handel had lived just a stone’s throw away and went on to buy many records of the composer’s works, the most notable of which was a copy of “Messiah,” performed by the English Chamber Orchestra.

    This is now housed at the Experience Music Project in Seattle, Washington, along with a large section of Hendrix’s record collection.

    Hendrix shared the Brook Street flat with his girlfriend Kathy Etchingham and Hendrix referred to it as “the first real home of my own.”

    (SD-Agencies)